Problematic Positionality

SteynPost #22December 6, 2017

https://www.steynonline.com/8299/problematic-positionality

Lindsay Shepherd's "investigation" by Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario caused a furor in Canada (and beyond, in Britain and America), and many of the country's most eminent columnists have weighed in on the matter. But Mark wanted to say a word about it, too, which he does in this brand new SteynPost. Click below to watch:

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68 Reader Comments

Kate Smyth • Dec 18, 2017 at 08:55

An excellent overview, Mark. Truly sinister. You mentioned post-WWII communist Europe, and I was reminded of a brilliant film from a few years ago, set in mid-1980s in East Berlin: "The Lives of Others". Highly recommended. The opening scenes show the protagonist- a senior Stasi officer- conducting an interrogation of an ordinary citizen presumed to be an enemy of the state, and subsequently "teaching" new recruits about the methods used to extract confessions; the subject crying was tantamount to an admission of "guilt". (A must-see film, and perhaps one you'd consider reviewing).

It's disappointing that there are not more social media "viral memes" following the Lindsay Shepherd incident; something deliberately low-brow with popular appeal- swastikas alongside the names and photographs of the interrogators- in the style of progressive-left internet smears. Douglas Murray once mentioned in an interview that we are "too decent", and must play the game at their level.

John Saunders UK • Dec 10, 2017 at 14:13

I fear that what the world has witnessed in this event is only a harbinger of what is very likely to become morecommonplace, unless it already has become so. The three so - called moral interrogators appeared to be themost un-prepossessing, mentally ineffectual and moronic human beings as ever one set eyes upon. They represented the worst kind of the morally - superior, pseudo-intellectual, holier - than - thou, bullying attitude we see so often from the socialist, liberal establishment. They can be described in my words as ' Snivelling little Soviet - Nazis' who have no real moral fortitude to debate any issues. They deserve every vestige of contempt. These three stooges are entitled to believe in what they want, BUT it is not for them to decide/prevent what anyone can say or think, nor to police ideas that they don't like. I would have them facing a future Nuremberg tribunal with all the consequences of draconian punishments (firing squad).My accusations would be thus: ' I accuse you and find you guilty,not of what you believe in, but of potentially threatening (possibly with violence or censure of employment) and denying freedom of speech,thought and conscience to this person. That is your real crime! Lindsay Shepherd, Mark Steyn, myself and millions of others are now 'the New Jews' in the world. One final word to the three stooges of Wilfred Laurier university;One important rule in the 'Ten Commandments': "Thou shall not bear false witness to thy neighbour."

Bob Belvedere • Dec 9, 2017 at 19:31

-I finally was able to watch this Steyn Post and I want to thank you for spending the amount of time you did on it â€” it really brings home the horrid, desiccating state of Western Civilization [these days I use that latter word very loosely] we find ourselves living in.

-Because I have been studying Russian History Since 1894 for over forty years now and due to the fact that I'm currently reading Victor Sebestyen's excellent book [another top-notch 'steyn'], Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror right now, I found the segments you played from the Canadian Show Trial very familiar in all ways. I was particularly reminded of the transcripts I've read in the past of Stalin's Show Trials and of the fights between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks during the early 1900's [which years I am currently involved reading about in said biography].

-In the video, Mark, you declared Miss Shepherd a Hero Of Canada. Indeed, she is, but, more importantly, she is a Hero Of The West [I would have added 'Hero Of The Anglosphere', but that would have been redundant, as it is all that is left of The West these days, except for a few brave Dutch Souls.]. Lindsay Shepherd is an Inspiration, a Heroine for these Dark Times.

-Finally: There is a Special place reserved in Hell for people [especially, so-called 'Men'] who make a Woman cry like that. Damn them.

Graeme Thompson • Dec 8, 2017 at 05:30

And that should get every representative of every riding in Canada worked up demanding that totalitarianism is rooted out of higher education, yet like everwhere in the West it's. Zzzzzz. Zzzzz, as it has been since PC raised its ugly head. Democracy needs values to sustain it, and it doesn't have them. Enjoy what's left of it while it lasts.

Folkways • Dec 7, 2017 at 19:59

I kept holding my breath listening for every word, astonished at the presence of mind Mark had to school a tribunal on the Wiemar Republic and astonished to hear what this young woman faced. Is this really 21st century North America? In the end I was left hoping that she can remain as cheerful and resilient as Mark!

George Pazin • Dec 7, 2017 at 18:11

This sort of story just makes my blood boil. And I say that as someone who is almost embarrassingly timid in most personal interactions.

Someone needs to come down hard on this troika and make them understand they can't pull this sort of academic fascism. And that's what this is, real fascism, not the pretend faux sort they accuse everyone they oppose of.

They are indeed the Nazis in the room, not the young woman, and not the public access gent whose recording she shared.

Giovanna Visconti • Dec 7, 2017 at 17:35

Absolutely harrowing. I'd read about this last week and then heard some excerpts from the recording that this courageous young woman surreptitiously made. So glad Mr. Steyn has highlighted it.

This kind of thing...another step toward a Stasi-like state? The next instance won't be recorded because the "subject" will not be allowed to bring any devices (cell phones, etc.) into the "interrogation room." Seriously: Get hold of a copy of "The Lives of Others" (2006) a superb depiction of real life in East Germany before 1989. The film is subtitled, but if that bothers you generally, it won't in this instance. It's absolutely riveting.

Fascinating how history repeats itself right under our noses! I'd seen those excerpts of Mr. Steyn's testimony before the Canadian tribunal before, and wondered at the time if any of those members of the "Human Rights" commission knew what that Weimar Republic he was going on about was!

Richard Harrison • Dec 7, 2017 at 17:04

Watching Mark's critique of that unholy trinity bullying a defenceless young woman, and the clips of Mark's earlier pronouncements, I couldn't help noting the following:

The individual we see (or hear) speaking with the strongest sense of the importance of our inherited rights and freedoms, and who is best able to articulate his views, is the only one who didn't have the benefit of a university education in the last half-century. (I mean Mark, of course.)

OT: I would like to ask (at grave risk of being flippant), where does Mark keep that painting of his that slowly ages while he himself remains eerily unchanging in appearance over the years?

Don Cope • Dec 7, 2017 at 10:30

What about the millennials who more and more are attracted to socialism as a valid economic system for the U.S. For me, if you scratch a socialist you find a communist.

Denyse O'Leary • Dec 7, 2017 at 09:33

Flashback: From 1967 through 1971, I attended WLU, then called Waterloo Lutheran University. When, seeking government aid, the university changed its name to Wilfrid Laurier University in 1973, the initials remained the same. You want the cash, lose the "Lutheran", sneered the local paper in retrospect in 2011. But what else did the university lose in order to get from my life there to Lindsay Shepherd's? As several incidents from my day show, it was a comparatively free place then:

1. Late in my undergrad career, I was asked to write a paper for a seminar that included reading Victorian pornography. My prof probably expected it was safe to ask me because I wouldn't be interested in the stuff privately. Her reasoning for undertaking the project was that the class would not understand the decline of Victorian romanticism into the Decadent movement without making some irregularly scheduled stops along the way... But no one thought I should have gone screaming to the authorities, citing harm to my toxic snowflake-hood. That would signal that I was not suited to a career in English Language and Literature. Along those lines, I think that anyone upset by Shepherd's video clip does not belong in Communications at a university.

2. Women's groups came to the campus in the early 1970s, putting up posters everywhere for Free Abortion on Demand. In those days, that was a radical idea. Some students, including myself, set up a pro-life table and, predictably, budding progressives trooped up to the dean's office to protest. He told them it was a free country.

Just like that. He told them it was a free country.

Today, there are organized harassment campaigns at many Canadian universities against students who think that unborn children should have legal protection. And the administration is Cool with that.

3. Ominously, some of the students I attended WLU with were budding progressives. One boasted that he wanted to shoot all the members of Parliament and breed humans in test tubes, raised free of the violence of typical middle-class Canadian homes. Another said he wished that he could throw one particular dean onto the road to be crushed by passing cars. Many less violent progressive opinions that tended in the same direction were offered (and tolerated) in those days. My guess is that such people now wield considerable influence in Canada in late mid-life. Not because they were allowed to speak but because "nicer" people have backed down.

So yes, the cash won out over the Lutherans and Lindsay Shepherd is living the outcome.

As Steyn notes, he and some colleagues in media secured minor victories against the system a decade ago. But the forces underlying thought control today are not defeated by only one victory. For one thing, few young academics are anywhere near as courageous as Shepherd.

It is poignant to hear her defend herself as simply helping students understand what communications issues they will encounter in society. My long-deceased profs would have said that!

Many students today do not hope to encounter any such issues; they hope to help legislate against them and stamp them out. They have been raised to believe in thought control as the key to a progressive society. They have little desire to think for themselves, possibly cannot do so, and do not understand those who can. Otherwise,

- the firestorm would be much larger

- WLU's insincere "apologies" would be called out for what they are and real change would be demanded of all universities that hope to keep their charters

and

- the WLU campus inquisition, heard in all its hideous glory, would be looking for new jobs, preferably collaring wildlife in venues where they need not interact with a thinking public. (No coyote cares much if you call him a Nazi.)

But "WLU mugs Lindsay Shepherd" is a sobering tale for the Western world generally: Leaving behind the modern Christian tradition means leaving behind a much sounder basis for intellectual freedom than progressivism ever was, is, or will be.

Jessica • Dec 7, 2017 at 08:51

This is another great post by Mark. It gives me hope to see that there are still students like Lindsay Shepherd who haven't been completely indoctrinated by the leftist groupthink which passes for a university education these days.

Holly Birtwistle Jessica • Dec 7, 2017 at 17:48

100% Jessica.

P. Gao • Dec 7, 2017 at 04:08

Very sobering, and excellent.

This won't stop until the subsidizing money is cut off from these human ticks. They're unproductive social justice vandals and they freaked out that there was a glitch in the carefully-constructed campus 'matrix' and they piled on the women to shut her up.Plus all this obsessive talk invoking Hitler for every slight is effectively given Stalin, Pol Pot and especially Mao, cover. Especially Mao and how he groomed teachers and students to accuse and destroy the 'elders' to take their property and remove them and their knowledge from society. Not Mao's problem that half the country had to eat dirt for a while after getting rid of the skilled, productive generation after that. He made sure he was very comfortable.

Jonathan Galbraith • Dec 7, 2017 at 04:03

Great piece from Mark and really gets to the heart of the issue.

There is one other point worth mentioning though: if you listen to the whole recording, one of the 'troika' says something about it being wrong to expose "young adults" to these dangerous ideas. When did university undergraduates become "young adults"? They must surely be at least 18, by which point one can vote, drive a car, leave home, buy alcohol (the US excepted!), get married etc i.e. one has the full panoply of rights afforded an adult.

And indeed, just two generations earlier, men of 18 (and younger) went off to fight for King and Country...but according to these idiots from Wilfrid Laurier University they are but "young adults" who need protecting!!!

Is it any wonder that the young of today have become "Generation Snowflake" when this is the attitude of their so-called "educators"?

PS does anyone know the difference between "my position" and "my positionality"? I don't speak Social Justice Warrior!

Sol Cranfill Jonathan Galbraith • Dec 7, 2017 at 09:41

Use of the word positionality signifies that someone has achieved the highest rank of ninnyhood in academe. Analogous to Chief Cyclops that Senator Robert Byrd rose to in the KKK, or the Thetan Level VIII Tom Cruise reached in Scientology, status is formally conferred in a faculty lounge when a laurier wreath is placed on the head of the benighted.

Susanna Sol Cranfill • Dec 7, 2017 at 14:54

Nice. And "positionality" is only scratching the surface. Look at that ninny's areas of research on his university profile page. Digital intimacies? Non-monagamy? The whole CV is full of self-important academia-speak.

I imagine he got so far into Dungeons & Dragons he hasn't gotten back out of the rabbit hole. His sentences seem to be composed the way bands used to name themselves: take something serious and juxtapose it with something mundane or silly, and presto, you get something like Mind-heavy Mustard. In his case, repeat, and reiterate until your next role-playing assignment. There is some proof the remunerated lunacy can be at least temporarily suspended, as he does some self-flagellation at http://complexsingularities.net/

Susanna Sol Cranfill • Dec 7, 2017 at 16:07

Except that it's under the banner of "Complex Singularities."

Probably drives a Prius, too.

Sol Cranfill Susanna • Dec 7, 2017 at 16:36

It could be the name of his band:)

Susanna Sol Cranfill • Dec 7, 2017 at 17:37

Hee hee. Or it's code for "polyamorous singles."

Look a little further on that site. The dude is into some stuff.

Holly Birtwistle Susanna • Dec 7, 2017 at 17:52

Spot on Susanna.

Steven Payne • Dec 7, 2017 at 00:40

So glad to see Mark feature this issue. There's a point where he perfectly sums up this "hearing" in one word: evil.Mr. Steyn, you're welcome to your opinions and your opinions are always welcome here.

Catherine Mossholder • Dec 7, 2017 at 00:13

If you want some real political entertainment look up Ezra Levant's videos of his interrogation by the Human Rights Council on You Tube.Spoiler: He mopped the floor with the poor woman ment to set the stage for a conviction. When this video hit the internet she resigned the next day.Ezra and Mark were both being persecuted in the same time frame. The HRC definitely tugged the wrong tiger's tail when they took these two on.It is well worth your time to look up Ezra's interrogation videos if you haven't seen them.

Joseph Adler Catherine Mossholder • Dec 7, 2017 at 00:22

Those Ezra videos are awesome to behold.

Joan Marks • Dec 7, 2017 at 00:10

Thank you Mark, a forensic and moving dissection of this atrocious episode. It is uncomfortable to watch the almost obscene pleasure the torturers enjoy in this sadistic inquisition. What a sorry state the left would have us in, and to see their influence spreading throughout the western world is terrifying.

Sol Cranfill • Dec 6, 2017 at 22:16

MGD says below that apparently one of Shepherd's accusers specializes in BDSM research.

The brainwashing technique utilized by these three, with academe's backing, of making someone so afraid of a slight misstep, tiptoeing around a thought minefield includes three of those: it's sadistic and puts someone in fearful bondage to an unjust authority figure who dominates his prisoner.

Even thinking about this abuse is horrible, so people who want to keep out of trouble neutralize themselves by quietly acquiescing.

This may be sound like a stretch, but this is related to the co-opting of feminism by people like Lauer and Weinstein. Guys like that are savvy investors who see an opportunity and strike. That's how they got where they were.

There's a neat trick to throw your righteous enemy off balance: accuse. That's the useful part of feminism to a predator. The sleazy left must absolutely marvel that this trick gives them an open door to roomfuls of maidens. The accusation? You are a bad person who mistreats women by opening doors for them and complimenting them. The man doesn't know how to respond, but he doesn't want to be known as this, so he instantly, predictably, and automatically leaps to his own defense, where he stays, and the game is won. Now he is on eggshells, just like Miss Shepherd. The tactic is brilliant in its inanity. Good people are completely mystified as to what to do. What they ought to do is be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Once the premise was accepted, the predator had an opening.

It's a con. His motives are hidden in a subtle and subconscious way. He is so enlightened beyond ordinary people that he knows that treating a woman ladylike is actually bad. He gains access through naivety of people who think, this doesn't make a ton of sense, but it seems like a fairly harmless, noble intention vaguely attached to respect and almost chivalrous, so I can't see a way to oppose it. What can I do anyway? This gallant man cares so much about women, it's assumed, that he is trusted as the meticulous caretaker of the new observations of propriety, respect and attendance to all m'lady's needs, transcending the scrupulous standards of even a Jane Austen novel.

A secret life of evil. That's the cover that feminism provides rapists like Weinstein. Get the other guy so worried about accidentally complimenting a woman he won't notice what you're up to.

Bob Belvedere Sol Cranfill • Dec 10, 2017 at 21:39

Sol wrote:

MGD says below that apparently one of Shepherd's accusers specializes in BDSM research.

The brainwashing technique utilized by these three, with academe's backing, of making someone so afraid of a slight misstep, tiptoeing around a thought minefield includes three of those: it's sadistic and puts someone in fearful bondage to an unjust authority figure who dominates his prisoner.

And there's no Safe Word possible for the victims.

Bruce Gold • Dec 6, 2017 at 20:56

Two pointsThe human rights tribunals are sold as small administrative bodies engaged in disputes over rental units and the like. In practice, they are a totalitarian parallel court system that utterly rejects Common Law, Anglo- Saxon jurisprudence and due process. This is accomplished by a legal two-step. The trial is "merely" an administrative process therefore all due process and legal rights are eradicated, then after the trial is over it becomes a "court" with all the powers of a court. The result is show trials that are a disgrace to Canada and all our traditions. Shame on the politicians that created them.

The freedom of speech issue that is not mentioned is the elephant in the room. That is the right to hear.Freedom to speak and freedom to hear are two sides of the same coin. They cannot exist without each other. This university has attacked her freedom of speech but they have also attacked the freedom to hear of every student in the university. Their posturing about "hostile climate" etc. is a somewhat veiled expression of their utter contempt for their students, including the supposed injured ones. To them their students lack agency, intelligence, discipline and any common sense; they are mere pawns helplessly reacting to anything said or any idea expressed. Disgraceful indeed

Jeremy Frankel • Dec 6, 2017 at 20:24

Hi Mark,

Loved this video! It's been a while since the last Steynpost, any chance we can please get them more often? Also would love to see the Mark Steyn show come back!

Holly • Dec 6, 2017 at 20:20

Listening to these "professors" and diversity czars speaking makes me think of the end C. S. Lewis' novel "That Hideous Strength" where Deputy Director Wither is addressing the guests at dinner and all that comes out of his mouth is gibberish. As in that scene, there are words coming out of their mouths but the words are totally unrelated.

Matt Watson • Dec 6, 2017 at 18:10

The deranged responses of the authoritarian left to any opinion with which they disagree belies a clear antipathy to classical liberal ideals regarding free speech and individual rights as espoused by Burke, Locke and Hobbes. It's encouraging to see that such basic principles of liberal democracy are still causing such consternation among the social justice set. In short, our ideas must have merit if the anti-western left becomes so unhinged by hearing them.

Steven Payne Matt Watson • Dec 7, 2017 at 04:24

Matt, I think or at least hope that some of those deranged responses come because somewhere deep inside leftists realize how absurd some of their positions are. Actually, they should be happy that someone would bother to try to seriously discuss those positions. The proper response is a good belly laugh.

Richard Caskey • Dec 6, 2017 at 18:06

Thank God she didn't treat her students to clips from SteynPosts. Forget the tribunal, it would be straight to the firing squad.

David O'Neil • Dec 6, 2017 at 18:03

This is Tyranny by the minorities. (Climate fanatics, gender warriors, Muslims etc).

Sam Williamson • Dec 6, 2017 at 17:58

Good edition Mark. The media never did explain what happened. Favourite line, "You are entitled to your opinion but,..." Ahh, no. I am entitled to my opinion and to express it freely. Otherwise please refund full tuition, and I will attend a real university.

And to think that she paid for this abuse. I wonder if she can sue? It might at least expose those who complained.

Michael H. • Dec 6, 2017 at 17:50

"She shamed them in public"! Lindsay is another hero ...... we need more educated people like Lindsay!

David Elstrom • Dec 6, 2017 at 16:58

The scary part is the Star Chamber nature of the railroadingâ€”secret charges, no right to representation, no right to confront your accusers, and any attempt to introduce facts dismissed as "not up for debate." The truly frightening part is that the so-called administration of the university is unwilling or powerless to halt these Soviet-style show trials.

Sol Cranfill • Dec 6, 2017 at 16:22

Hitler must be kicking himself for starting WWII. From Third Reich to third-rate.

This is a beguiling problem. To me, this is the banality of evil. It's not the Holocaust or anything like that that is the banal part. Insanity is difficult to fight. Stupidity is hard to counter. In that sense, stupidity and insanity are brilliant. Although the group seems to have lost its sheen, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, make silly demands that the average person doesn't know what to do with and shrugs them off as inconsequential.

But it's a vulnerability that can do great damage. Something equal to the opponent is not what's necessary to bring the opponent down. Here, free speech is the antidote to shutting down free speech.

The Chinese driver of the tank involved in the military attack lethally stopping the free speech of students at Tiananmen Square couldn't bring himself to run over the man that was so courageous that he didn't even drop his two shopping bags, as he insisted the tank run over him first to continue against the students.

The rights are every person's to begin with. They are a part of human nature, and human nature tends to respond accordingly when it knows they're violated, once it hits home close enough. The challenge of waking up Rip Van Winkle and telling the story well, and often, can unwind these injustices. But it's a big task, and one that doesn't get a lot of enlistees because it's hard to accept that things have sunk to this undignified sub-level, and one that requires education, which is beguiling in itself, when schools are the bunkers of the enemy. Still, it's a facade that loses strength the more it is exposed.

The white Canuckistani wimp looks like he could be pushed over by the fingertip of the defiant girl as the statue in front of the Wall Street bull in Manhattan.

Owen Morgan • Dec 6, 2017 at 15:42

What is it about these "communications" departments? Remember how Melissa Click insisted a student journalist had no right to attend the scene of a protest at the University of Missouri and called for "muscle" to drive him away? It wasn't great for the university's image, since a huge drop in the number of enrolments ensued. Between them, the protesters and Click proved that, actually, there really is such a thing as bad publicity and I'd like to think that the same is true of the troika's behaviour at Wilfrid Laurier.

The difference between the bad laws in Weimar Germany and those enacted or projected in the English-speaking world today is that today's "hate crimes" law and "civil rights" legislation are both applied almost exclusively in favour of the exact people who thrive on hatred and who would dearly love to trample on genuine human rights. Weimar's laws were bad laws, designed to keep the n*z*s from power, which ended up being exploited by the n*z*s themselves. In Britain, hundreds of police in London alone have had to be diverted from the important stuff, like investigating Jimmy Savile (died 2011), to scanning social media for hatred. Somehow, they missed the Ariana Grande bomber and the Westminster and London Bridge terrorists. Could it be that their search parameters are in some way faulty?

Two men, Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman and Mohammed Aqib Imran, are accused of planning an attack on Number 10, Downing Street, in a bid to assassinate Theresa May. I wonder how many Plods are now devoting hours and days of their time, to try to identify a possible motive.

Susanna • Dec 6, 2017 at 15:28

It's so, so humiliating to be a woman under duress and unable to keep from sobbing. I've been in a similar situation (falsely fingered for a vague offense by an unnamed accuser--though not of so much import and consequence), and there's no stopping the tears, even though all you want is to be calm, assertive, and strong. It's the worst.

Soldier on, Lindsay!

Carl Branstetter Susanna • Dec 6, 2017 at 16:20

Used to be a gentleman would blacken someone's eyes for putting a lady in that predicament. Ah, the good old days.

Holly Birtwistle Susanna • Dec 7, 2017 at 18:08

Been there too Susanna. My tears were an emotional release that quickly proceeded to anger, disgust and defiance.

Terry Bramwell • Dec 6, 2017 at 14:51

This is an issue bigger and deeper than we think. Take the time to listen to a following agenda program when Steve Pakin interviews the chancellor of the university ..her position and answers will have you "gabberflasted" Then take time to review the coverage of this issue by the CBC.. hint it will not take long. I believe the real target here is the academic world has Jordan Peterson in their sights and he is Gulliver being tied by the Lilliputians with little strings because they cannot better him in an open debate. SWL is a disgrace to Sir Wilfred Laurier and I await how these despicable characters are dealt with.

PK33 • Dec 6, 2017 at 14:49

Great take on this and weaving in your own struggles with Canada's HRC. I saw Lindsay Shepherd on The Rubin Report. Red-pilling live, in action.

I tried to read some Maclean's online a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately that magazine is now very left of center and I could barely get through a single article. SJW writers with blatant agendas. Sad to see what is has become.

Ken • Dec 6, 2017 at 14:16

I wonder if a hijab-wearing Muslim instructor would have been treated to the same insane persecution by this faculty.

Stephen Leerskov Ken • Dec 6, 2017 at 15:03

I don't wonder at all...

Holly Birtwistle Stephen Leerskov • Dec 7, 2017 at 18:09

100% Stephan.

siberianmo • Dec 6, 2017 at 14:02

Mark,

Once again, I listened, did a bit of my own research, learned and applaud your bringing the criminalization of opinion to light, especially in the times we are living.

Lindsay Shepherd's lesson plan had go do with how language effects our lives - and for a five-minute segment added from a TV show, she wound up at an inquisition with the power to destroy her professional career.

In the USA. there are those who wish to eradicate from the air waves anything and everything in opposition to the "enlightened" we-know-better-crowd. Past-prez Obama added at least one foundation layer in that regard. RIP, his administration and thank the Lord faux-Queen Hillary lost, lost, lost. There, I got that off my chest.

It staggers the mind to catalog all of the changes that have been (and are being) made to what was once an accepted lexicon. Good Gawd Gertie (my mother's name) where does all of this lead?

I recall when "Ms" came into vogue - it was something that truly bothered my bride - big time. She did not request that prefix, nor burn her "unmentionables," nor self-flagellate because she was a homemaker. She fought those forced-acceptances the best she could with what she had. Today? Accepted. Tomorrow? Alarming.

"I will fight to death not to have to put up with one little tweet or Facebook post or anything exposing them to other points of view" apparently is the course being charted by the social justice commissars amongst us. Absolutely the antithesis of Voltaire - well put.

Truly an eye opening piece, Mark, and as usual - much to be learned and in this case, concerned about.

I have found what Lindsay Shepherd had to say before the "troika" equally compelling. I cannot imagine bring brought before such a forum without "losing it," at least a time or two. No tears, but well-earned choices of words for those three. Anyway, it is a good thing not everyone is of my mindset; 'nuf said there.

Disagree on one point, Tom. I do think that "Ms." is a useful counter to "Mr." If you don't know a man, you can show respect by using Mr., but there is or was no way to do that with a woman you don't know. I think we should use Ms. and drop Miss and Mrs. so we have one way to address men and one way to address women and the issue of marriage doesn't come into it.

siberianmo Steven Payne • Dec 7, 2017 at 08:58

Steven,

Only if the person impacted has a "say" in its use. That is how my former bride viewed it and I concurred then and still do.

And I wonder "who" exactly decides when Miss and Mrs. are to be no longer applicable? This is one of those occasions whereby if "something" is said often enough and loudly enough - it becomes accepted. "Hands up don't shoot" comes to mind (albeit a stretch, but best analogy at the moment).

Thanx for your response.

Tom in Missouri

siberianmo Steven Payne • Dec 7, 2017 at 09:28

Steven,

Please consider this an "edit" to my earlier response.

I understand your point regarding extending a greeting to a man or woman through use of the preffixes. Quite frankly, when encountering a stranger - a simple "Good morning, afternoon, evening, or day" should work. Who needs the prefix?

The mailings that arrive with "Ms" inserted before my wife's name is an incorrect assumption that she wishes to be addressed that way; same for "Mr." as I see it.

I have a life-time title - earned as a result of retiring from the military as a commissioned officer. If I desired to have it used in formal address, I would ensure those communicating with me understood my preference. in lieu of "Mr.". Reality kicks though when assumptions carry the day. Solution: drop the prefixes.

Anyway, an interesting take on it.

Tom in Missouri

Holly Birtwistle siberianmo • Dec 7, 2017 at 18:12

Actually, it's a shame there aren't more people with your mindset Tom.

Steven Payne siberianmo • Dec 7, 2017 at 20:40

Pretty shaky ground I think, Tom. The logic of having one title of respect for men and one for women seems unassailable. Why should we need to know someone's marital status to address them respectfully? I'll overlook you mixing up prefix and suffix. However, in your first post, you asked who decides, then in your second post you apparently decide we should stop using titles of respect (they're not really prefixes or suffixes) altogether.I also have to say that both the Mrs. and you seem a little "snowflakey" on the subject. Finally, I would address Holly's remarks respectfully, but I don't know if she's married or not.Now I must go remove my tongue from my cheek.

siberianmo Steven Payne • Dec 8, 2017 at 10:35

Steven,

Not shaky ground in these parts; I will leave that to distressed SoCal . . .

Unassailable you say? Nope - I have no assailed a darned thing; just pointing my (repeat my) point of view.

Respectfully you say? How is that should the recipient be offended (oh-fend-ed) by the use of "mizzzzzz"?

We can and will continue to agree to disagree.

As for Holly - you need not know whether she is married or not; makes "it" all the more interesting!

A senior-moment regarding the misuse of prefix & suffix; I requested "help" from the Club, but apparently too late to make a change. We need an "edit" feature; where is that protest sign when I need it? Braaaatzafratz.

Cheers!

Tom in Missouri

siberianmo Holly Birtwistle • Dec 8, 2017 at 10:37

Holly,

A frightening thought in these times, methinks.

But, thanx for the "endorsement," at least I know I am not alone in this canoe.

Cheers!

Tom in Missouri

Holly Birtwistle Steven Payne • Dec 9, 2017 at 01:39

I was making a general comment about siberianmo's contributions and critical thinking on a range of topics, although I didn't make that clear. I think you are correct on this topic Steven. Introducing Ms. was a logical step forward in women's struggle for equality, and I'm grateful. I think Tom and his wife are a little sentimental about this subject. Always enjoy reading your logical and fair-minded and - shall we say- contemporary thoughts:))ps I prefer to be addressed as Ms., to keep people guessing:))

Steven Payne Holly Birtwistle • Dec 9, 2017 at 19:58

Thank you for your kind words, Ms. Birtwistle! I am most appreciative of your comments and Tom's as well. I could argue the point further, but I think this molehill has gotten high enough already.

Robert Stewart • Dec 6, 2017 at 14:00

Mark, hard hitting, topical and unapologetic commentary like this is so important today. We are so fortunate that we have the internet to give us access to your wisdom and energy. And best of all, we can chuckle through the entire lesson. Imagine commenting on the machinations of the gender language bureaucracy with an unrelenting "she was the only man in this room", "she was the hero", and then contrasting these clear meanings with the babble uttered by the communications facility at this pitiful school. I am one of the "founding members" of our globe-spanning club, and I am looking forward to renewing my membership for the coming year. Please keep up the good work! And do we have enough members in the Puget Sound region to form a chapter? And I enjoyed your reflections on the passing of the last of the Profumo affair. There is a fun little memoir by Gerhart Neuman with a dedication to Christine's "just lucky I guess" that you might enjoy.

Tom Korte • Dec 6, 2017 at 13:56

Mr. Steyn,An excellent video. Your tie is a nice touch. I have a ball cap with the RCAF maple leaf on it that I used to proudly wear. I'm not so proud of it as I once was though, through no fault of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

A few other things about the inquisition, though a person would have to listen to it in its entirety to get them.Here's the link to do that. It appears to be the soundcloud account of a National Post reporter.

If you start at around 31 minutes then you'll hear the motive behind all of this being inadvertently admitted. Basically they're driving towards the destruction of Western Civilization and are doing that by undermining it's foundations of the family and religion. As I'm sure most Steyn readers will be aware, this is not unique to these professors or to this university. It's Post-Modernist Cultural Marxism eating away at society like termites at the foundation of a house.

For what is probably the clearest description of Post-Modernist Cultural Marxism that I've ever heard, have a listen to this interview done by independent journalist Faith Goldy. The interviewee is George Hutcheson, Director of Students for Western Civilisation in Toronto, and it shows that there are students other than Lindsay that are taking up the fight. Until this battle is fought won in Western universities we'll be forever just treating the symptoms, because it's in the universities that people like Pierre and Justin Trudeau, and the directors of HR departments, and countless other managers and bureaucrats are programmed with this ideology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MjlBkHOAg

In another part of the inquisition there's a point where Lindsay asks if the students with the hurt feelings are the only ones that matter and the inquisitors immediately change their angle to dodge the question, which clearly shows that they know she has them. Perhaps irony isn't just something that's done to shirts in an old Chinese laundry.

There's much more I could say as I've followed this story from the beginning, but I'll leave it to others to find their own truths where they will.

John Shuba • Dec 6, 2017 at 13:50

Wow - This represents so many awful things I cannot count them.Let me just single out the following. It is my experience with academics, and particularly those in the "social sciences" that most of them seeth with resentments personal, professional and political. (As Paul Sayre and then Henry Kissinger said - "The reason that university politics is so vicious is that the stakes are so small") Scratch an academic and you are likely to find a bully just waiting to jump out rather like a creature bursting from John Hurt's chest.

Their problem has been that they cannot admit this to themselves. In their own minds they are always righteous, virtuous, compassionate,learned and guided by principles of "social justice."In short they are always unquestionably "Good" and bullying is perceived as "Bad." Nothing is more important to most of these people then their own good opinion of themselves, And the ability to engage in genuine self-introspection and self-doubt seems to be beyond most of them. Humble they ain't. .

However, the creeping Marxism within the social sciences and the discovery of the "victims" within the LGBTETC community have led them to a solution. It is perfectly OK to bully and even punish others IF THIS IS DONE IN THE NAME OF SOMEONE ELSE - AN "OPPRESSED" GROUP THAT THE ACADEMIC CLAIMS TO "SPEAK FOR." If Ms. Shepard had asked each of these three disgusting people if they were personally offended themselves by what she did they would probably have said "no." But they were acting for an unnamed complainant and this leaves them free to bully in THEIR name. Thus she is free to have "her own opinion" but an the opinion that the unnamed complainant would find objectionable. In this way the "troika" shuts her down while still basking in their own self-righteousness. They have not broken a young woman for imbecilic reasons, they have allowed an unnamed "victim" to receive "social justice." They are heroes.

Holly Birtwistle John Shuba • Dec 7, 2017 at 18:20

Lot of truth to that John. The Ego is their Master.

Bob Belvedere John Shuba • Dec 9, 2017 at 19:14

Dead solid perfect, John.

Damn well put.

Robert Bridges • Dec 6, 2017 at 13:46

Well..... her video is toxic. . We are immersed in potential toxicity when we face reality. One can not avoid reality and all these intellectuals do is an avoidance behavior to even the smallest slight. In the rush to preserve rare species we have initially nurtured them in safe refuges and zoos only to see them die when released into the real world where determining the size, shape and position of a branch on the fly means safely traversing the tree tops or having a single final lesson in gravity and hard ground. Reality is like a grind stone... whether it sharpens one up or grinds one down depends on the metal one is made of. The universities are producing pot metal.

Holly Birtwistle • Dec 6, 2017 at 13:15

Thanks again Mark. You always clarify the issues; precise language in discussions and explanations is so important. It is your greatest tool.

MGD • Dec 6, 2017 at 12:27

The city names Kitchener/Waterloo might offend? Kitchener used to be called Berlin: the name was changed in 1916 because of anti-German sentiment. The fine people of KW are quiet, hard working and generally upstanding citizens, so they have been the target of "right thinking" before. The University of Waterloo is a fine school (disclosure: I am an alumnus), and Conestoga College is an excellent technical school. As for Wilfred Laurier University, this is a place where a teaching assistant is taken to task by her supervising professor, whose published academic "work" seems mainly focused on how to find BSDM hook-ups. The Governors of WLU should consider closing the school and salting the earth there, lest the poison fruit they have allowed to bloom grow any further.

Holly Birtwistle MGD • Dec 6, 2017 at 13:04

Love your last sentence MGD. I'll use that line in the future in reference to other worthy Totalitarian institutions.

Joseph Adler • Dec 6, 2017 at 12:12

Perhaps as ironic as "you are entitled to your opinion" is "may I speak?"

Rambukkana: I understand the position that you're coming from and your positionality, but the reality is that it has created a toxic climate for some of the students, you know, it's great â€”

Shepherd: How many? Who? How many? One?

Rambukkana: May I speak?

Susanna Joseph Adler • Dec 6, 2017 at 15:22

Right? I don't know how she restrained herself from reaching across the table and strangling that smug Pajama Boy.